By Derrick Scott
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Jamaica’s Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Minister Audley Shaw says Jamaica will see an injection of over US$20 billion of new investments that will help to drive the economy and increase job creation.
Addressing an International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Small State Forum at the headquarters of the World Bank on Saturday, October 14, 2017, Minister Shaw told the participants that this large investment was not a loan from the world bank or the IMF, but a direct investment in Jamaica from the private sector and investors from overseas.
“The government is on a drive to move Jamaica forward by attracting large investments into the country, which is one engine to spur the economy”, the Minister said.
He added that the government has targeted a series of infrastructure development projects that will drive the economy towards growth. Those currently in the pipeline include the reopening of an aluminum plant which has seen an investment of over US$3 billion, the divestiture of the country’s main terminal, construction of the north-south highway and the redevelopment of downtown Kingston, Jamaica.
The Minister pointed out that the government was on an aggressive program to reduce the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio which now stands at 116 percent, but the government has a target of 108 percent by the end of the fiscal year and down to 96 percent by year 2020.
Minister Shaw told the audience that even though Jamaica has a crime problem, an even greater problem is Jamaica’s acute human underdevelopment. He said that Jamaica needs to work with the World Bank and other multinational agencies to develop our human capacities and capital to grow the economy.
